I recently came into a nice chunck of change but I’m severely worried that a certain pecker is going to win reelection as president of the United States. The way I hear it, if the Japanese and Chinese weren’t buying up our bonds we wouldn’t be able to sustain he hellacious defitis we have now, never mind the ghostly legions of projected deficits leering at us from the future. If our Asian pals get spooked, we could be up le rive de merde. So, I’m thinking of taking my swag and putting it in foreign banks. Hell, we’ve already lost about 25% against the Euro and about 40% against the Australian dollar. So, the questions is, where’s the best place to put my money if we have an Argentinian-like crisis? What countries offer the best return for the safest bet should we become the world’s most powerful banana republic? I’d sort of like to know.
Who’s GWB II? The current president is GWB I. His father is GHWB.
The OP means the GWB Reign #2.
Many thanks to Dogzilla for explaining the obvious.
Actually, that wasn’t obvious at all, as a second term is seldom described as a second run, but as a continuation of the first. But as this is a hijack, carry on.
(I’d also mention the taboo of bringing petty politics into General Questions (“certain pecker”), but I’m not a mod.)
A friend with extensive assets kept them solid during the past few years by placing a moderate amount of them in foreign-currency CDs – one large CD on a Canadian bank, held and payable in $CDN, significant sums invested through an international banker with Australian and NZ banks.
I don’t necessarily advise this at present – but it’s definitely worth thinking about.
Interesting. See, the way I would figure it, the Canadian economy is so tied to the American economy (I know they’re our biggest trading partners so we’ve just got to be theirs) that, if we go under, our arms will be intimately surrounding their necks. Australia and New Zealand look like much better bets to me.
Since Iceland is trying to turn its thermal energy into hydrogen for powering cars and buses which would translate into their being independent of Arab oil, I think they might be a likely place too — though their interest rates are lagging.
I can’t help but wonder what your strategy was in antagonizing at least half (and possibly many more, as financial advisor types tend toward the conservative) of the people who might otherwise have been willing to help you.
Uh, good luck with that.
I don’t have the numbers at the ready, but over the period he had the CD in place, IIRC, $1.00CDN went from about US$0.68 to US$0.73 – plus the interest he was getting was at a higher rate than U.S. banks were paying. The net result is that he made about 15%-20% on his investment with very little risk. (It was on ScotiaBank, if that’s of interest.) So while the two economies are fairly closely tied, it does not follow that the dollar value is necessarily closely tied.
Excuse me for asking the obvious question, but assuming what you say is true (I could find little evidence that it is but I only did a cursory search), why would you think the Japanese and Chinese would invest so much in US bonds if they thought the economy was going to tank?
Moved from GQ. I don’t think there’s a factual answer here to be had.
And, if this one gets too politically pissy, I’m sure a mod will bounce it again.
Try to stay on subject, guys.
samclem GQ moderator
That’s called diplomacy…which is something VP Cheney could use some help with! 
If conservatives wanted to help people, they wouldn’t be conservatives.
Why do you think it’s the liberals who get characterized as being helpful and caring? And why do you think the conservatives consider this a bad thing? 
Mods, can this thread be moved to the pit so that we humble and rule abiding conservatives can respond to it with the vitrol that it so richly deserves?
Well if Liberal’s were so smart, why are conservatives so much wealthier and better looking?
Hey, instead of having a pissing contest to see which of the two major political parties is most assholian, I would suggest some of you investment geeks out there to hook the OP up with one of those investment firms that does “friendly” investments, i.e. eco-friendly, no tobacco, no defense, etc. They exist; I’ve seen ads for them. I’d provide a cite/link, but to tell you the truth, I’d rather have all my fingernails pulled out with a pair of pliers than to wade through a bunch of financial gobbledegook.
OK. Questions for the OP:
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What is your investment timeline? If it’s short, then you need to look at money market funds, or bonds. If it’s long, then you should look at stocks.
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What do you mean by loosing 40% to the Australian Dollar? Are you talking about currency fluctuations? If so, that doesn’t really have a lot to do with making individual investment decisions.
I’m not an investment geek, but I know that Citizen funds have that sort of investments. Unfortunately, they haven’t made much money over the years.
Oh, Jeebus. Look, there was a question. The question was: Where’s the best place to put one’s dough if there’s an Argentinian-like crisis? You know, if the economy melts down from the current obscene deficit spending. That’s a legtimate question.
And, Manhattan, it’s not my fault who the responsible party is here. The way I figure it, anyone who doesn’t recognize the obvious isn’t likely to dish much useful advice anyhow. If we keep running quarter-trillion-dollar-or-more deficits there’s going to be a huge amount of payback like it or not. If you’re not scared, you’re asleep.
You’ve got it backwards. It’s wealth that turns people into conservatives.